Scotland had made 14 changes from the side that went so gallantly against South Africaq last week, a team transformed in more ways than one.
The fire they showed in Pretoria evaporated in the first 40. Fiji dominated in an opening half during which they defending heroically and attacking sensationally.
They had a rare balance to their game; true to their DNA, yes, but not slaves to it. They had a power, a flair and a discipline that saw them outscore the Scots by three tries to one in the opening half.
Gray struck first after a fine line break by Ollie Smith, the outside centre wearing a special shirt in tribute to the late, great Scott Hastings who brought such distinction to that number 13.
When Gray blasted over from close-range, a try that was converted by Horne, the feeling of a long day ahead for Fiji was unavoidable.
Instead, everything flipped. Fiji thundered downfield, set up a ruck and Ikanivere ran through to score without a Scottish hand being laid on him.
Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula missed the conversion, but that hardly knocked Fiji off their stride. Their second score was a peach, the magnificent Jiuta Wainiqolo blasted out of defence, eating up ground with his long stride, his incredible athleticism and prodigious power.
From there, they tore Scotland apart. Josua Tuisova made yards down the right and linked with his wing, Ravutaumada, who chipped ahead adroitly and ran on to gather and score.
Clinical and beautiful. The only upside for Scotland was that, for a second time, the conversion was missed.
Scotland were getting nothing out of their lineout maul in the face of Fiji’s organisation and brute force. They weren’t making inroads in midfield or out wide either.
The one bit of joy they had was when Tagitagivalu got binned for a head shot on Horne, but then Scotland failed to capitalise on their advantage.
For 10 minutes last weekend, they were 15 versus 14 against South Africa and didn’t score. Here, they were 15 versus 14 and lost the sin bin spell by 7-0.
The Scots had been sluggish, wiped out at the breakdown and out-muscled all over.
That third Fiji try, and the one that really left Murrayfield in stunned silence, started with Caleb Muntz kicking intelligently to Ravutaumada on the right wing.
Patience through the phases led to Canakaivata running in over from an unguarded ruck. The conversion was good this time; 17-7 Fiji.
At the break, the hope for Scotland was that Fiji – technically, the home team on the day – would run out of gas and that Scotland, as fit as any side out there, would come steaming back into it, especially with a loaded bench.
So it proved. Head coach Gregor Townsend sprang that bench and one of the new men struck early, Schoeman firing himself through Fijians to touch down. Burke knocked out for the conversion and Scotland were back in the game.
More than that, they were bossing it all of a sudden. Townsend’s substitutes brought their performance alive.
Another one, Dobie, put them ahead after terrific work from yet another, Tuipulotu. Burke made it 21-17 with the boot and now Scotland had the game under control.
Big Cummings, massively impressive against the Boks last weekend, crashed over for the bonus-point try and Dobie, following excellence from Duhan van der Merwe and Josh Bayliss, went over just before the end to complete the comeback and put Scotland in rude health on the Nations Championship league table ahead of the final stretch of games in the autumn.
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